Harris on Harris: The Donald Trump Edition

Ilari Kaila

2 years ago

After the gay nightclub massacre in Orlando last year, Roger Jimenez, pastor of a small Baptist church in California, gave a sermon proclaiming that he’s “upset” the gunman “didn’t finish the job,” and that the government should have all the “sodomites” lined up against the wall and “blow their brains out.”

In the ensuing backlash, Jimenez complained that his words were “taken out of context.”

The preacher’s protestations constitute what I’d term “pulling a Harris,” in honor of the noted kitchen philosopher and neuroscientist. To call Sam Harris a troll would be an understatement; with his honey-voiced musings on the ethical necessity of occasionally torturing Muslims, he’s the fucking Erlkönig of imperial court philosophers. But the minute you call him out, he simply refuses to stick to his guns. Same with his followers, who are often described as cultish — which I don’t think is hyperbole. As any cult leader worth his salt knows, self-contradiction can make a mythological narrative all the more potent. The cognitive gymnastics Harris’s disciples perform just to convince you and themselves that their guru’s reasoning is coherent could be fascinating, if they weren’t such unbelievable bores.